Fallout 76 has already kicked off its Slasher-themed seasonal content, but we recently got a preview of new content that takes us a little further down the Fallout 76 roadmap. The immediate next stop is December’s free World Pets update, followed by the more combat-focused Hideouts feature planned for spring 2027.
The Slasher content kicked off a couple of weeks ago, bringing the seasonal Halloween flavor players would expect from Appalachia. Bethesda’s bigger Winter and Spring update plans, however, shift attention toward companions, bounty hunting, and repeatable gang encounters that could give endgame-minded wastelanders more reasons to venture beyond their usual C.A.M.P. routines.
December’s Fallout 76: World Pets update expands the game’s existing C.A.M.P. Pet system by letting players bring an animal companion out into the wider world. Dogs, cats, radhogs, and most importantly, deathclaws will be available as traveling pets, able to follow players across Appalachia, join fights, earn experience, and level up by species. Pets can be selected, swapped, and healed through a new Pets section under the Pip-Boy’s STAT menu. Players can direct them through the existing C.A.M.P. Pet Command Wheel, now divided between practical commands such as Stay, Follow, Attack, and Defend, plus emotes for those moments when shooting mutants apparently needs more pageantry.
Each species has its own passive benefit. Dogs can locate Stimpaks and additional Legendary rewards during Bounty Hunts, while cats can find Improved Baits and Fish Bits. Radhogs specialize in Toxic Goo and High-Radiation Fluids, and deathclaws can uncover Black Titanium and additional Legendary items during Infestations. Pets will use species-themed melee attacks, though Bethesda says damage is standardized across species, so players can choose based on preference rather than pretending their cat is secretly a better DPS build. They will not be permitted in Raids or Shelters.
World Pets will also expand Bounty Hunting into Skyline Valley. New contracts, rewards, and a Robobrain host named Marshall Canton, who has adopted the personality of an Old West lawman, are on the way. Skyline Valley will receive a broader visual pass as part of the update, including upgraded forests, terrain, and weather effects.
Then comes Fallout 76: Hideouts in spring 2027, with public testing set to begin in October. This free update will add interior gang strongholds across Burning Springs and Skyline Valley, where groups of up to four players can hunt down a boss for exclusive rewards. Hideout Leads, earned through exploration, Public Events, Head Hunts, and other activities, will grant access, while combining Leads at a tinker’s workbench creates tougher versions.
Each Hideout run will vary through hazards, mutated gang leaders, time limits, and enemy factions. At higher difficulties, players may encounter The Drifter, a raid-level bounty hunter who can be guaranteed by using a Marked Hideout Lead. It sounds like a promising way to turn the bounty system into a more substantial cooperative loop, assuming Appalachia’s best squads are ready to discover that the bounty was hunting them all along.
